Horizon Info Services More of IT for Less

WESTBOROUGH, MA – November 12, 2009 – Building on its growth as a Google Apps Authorized Reseller, Horizon Info Services (www.horizoninfoservices.com) announced its selection as the exclusive North American distributor for OffiSync (www.OffiSync.com).  OffiSync is an add-on for Microsoft Office lets users save, share, and collaborate using Google Apps from menus and toolbars within Microsoft Word, Excel, and PowerPoint.  OffiSync also includes content and image search features.

“The launch of OffiSync is another turning point in the evolution of Google Apps as a business computing platform,” notes Allen Falcon, CEO of Horizon.  “OffiSync lets businesses and individuals continue to use their current desktop productivity tools and Google’s innovative cloud-based applications — either as a migration path or as part of a long-term strategy.”

Users are more comfortable changing email software since many already use more than one email program – at work and personally.  Many users are not as comfortable changing word processing and spreadsheet applications.  OffiSync solves this problem.

In a recent interview with eWeek, Matt Glotzbach, Google Enterprise Product Management Director noted that “…it’s a great set of functionality and helps a business or enterprise bridge that experience gap between users that want to work in native Office apps and those users who want to work in the cloud.”

Horizon is actively signing up resellers throughout North America.  In addition to the community of Google Apps Authorized Resellers, Horizon sees strong interest from consulting companies and IT firms that help companies deploy and use Google Apps.  It is a win-win solution.  Customers benefit from easier migrations and better integration; resellers gain from accelerated sales and an incremental recurring revenue stream.

OffiSync is designed to work seamlessly with all versions of Google Apps used by companies, educational institutions, non-profits, and individuals.  Oudi Antebi, Founder and CEO of OffiSync adds that “We created a solution that works with all current versions of Microsoft Office and every version of Google Apps – Premium, Standard, and Education, as well as individual Google Doc and Google Site accounts.”

OffiSync is available as an annual subscription starting at $12 per year per user or under a traditional perpetual license starting at $30 per user.  Both licenses include support; the subscription includes enhancements, upgrades, and future releases.

About Horizon Info Services

Horizon Info Services is offers industry-leading technology services to small businesses at affordable prices, specializing in solutions for businesses and non-profits with 1 to 500 employees.  Based outside of Boston Massachusetts, Horizon is an Authorized Reseller of Google Apps and Google Postini Services and offers a range of online backup solutions.

About OffiSync Corp

OffiSync enhances the way information workers use productivity applications by bringing together their familiar desktop environment with innovative cloud computing services.  OffiSync extends the way users use desktop software and allows them to store their files on Google Apps for better collaboration and accessibility, as well as integrates with web and image search that make it easy to bring content from the web right into document and presentations.  OffiSync is an independent, privately held company headquartered in Seattle, Washington.

According to research firm Gartner, worldwide sales of cloud computing Software as a Service (SaaS) applications and solutions will reach US$7.5 Billion in 2009, a nearly 18% increase over 2008.  Gartner further expects sales to more than double, reaching US$14 Billion by 2013.

These estimates represent an increase in prior Gartner estimates, as growth in cloud computing now is happening faster than originally predicted.

Our view is this:

Big, highly-publicized moves to Cloud Computing, such as the City of Los Angeles moving to Google Apps, establish credibility and signal the market that cloud management and security is up to the task.

Small and mid-size businesses have much to gain.  Cloud-based solutions free smaller businesses from the disproportionately high overhead and operating costs of many in-house solutions.  While cloud-based solutions may not meet the needs of all businesses, for many they provide better capabilities with greater reliability at lower costs.

Google’s announcement of ChromeOS has sparked widely varying opinions on the Internet.

On its own, ChromeOS is an open source operating system targeting netbooks and desktop PCs. Google’s intent is to support cloud computing — internal or external. At this level, ChromeOS is certainly a threat to the Linux versions in that space. While an open source project, ChromeOS has the financial backing of a major player that can push development of device drivers and core functionality.

Given Microsoft’s absence from the netbook market and ownership of business desktops, the threat to Microsoft is indirect. Will businesses migrate to OpenOffice? Will they run “office in the cloud”?

If you combine ChromeOS with Wave, however, the story changes. While most of the world focused on Wave’s user interface, I find Google’s stated intention of letting customers run federated servers in-house most fascinating. Wave is a private-cloud platform. Combine federated Wave servers with ChromeOS and you have the potential for an ecosystem.

ChromeOS on the desktop connecting to in-house, shared, and public Wave servers as well as other cloud computing services. Google has the potential to fundamentally change the way businesses compute.

The range of cloud-based solutions for small- and mid-size businesses continues to grow. One example is WorkingPoint, a cloud-based business management system that includes invoicing, expenses, bookkeeping, contact management, and other features backed by a double-entry accounting system.

Designed for small businesses, WorkingPoint runs over Amazon’s cloud. The first user is free, with additional users costing $10/month. For a company with simple bookkeeping and accounting needs and a few (or only one) person needing access, the cost/benefit of WorkingPoint is compelling.

As I said, though, this is only one example of cloud- based solutions moving into areas of business computing beyond email, collaboration, and CRM.

Which services have you found? Do you use?

On June 9th, Google quietly announced the Beta availability of Google Fusion Tables. This “Labs” application provides the ability to query multiple databases and data sources, including social media, rss, and other live feeds.

While an early labs release, Google Fusion Tables is a clear indication that Google hears its customers’ desire for better data management with Google Apps Premier Edition and the “cloud”, in general.

With the industry buzzing about Google Wave (and Facebook and Twitter likely rethinking strategy), PC Magazine provides a good overview of things you should know about Google Wave as it approaches release.

Read the Article Here.

What if some of the most create web developers decided to rethink email, IM, and Internet communications from scratch? What if they worked for a company with the resources to let them think and create for years? What is you could mix the real-time communication of Twitter and Facebook with the organization of email and contacts?

The answer: Google Wave. Take a sneak peek here.

Google recently announced that Valeo, an “independent industrial group fully focused on the design, production, and sale of components, integrated systems, and modules for cars and trucks,” is deploying Google Apps to all 30,000 employees.

Why does this matter?

Industry watchers like Dave Rosenberg see this deal as further validation that companies of all sizes trust Google and Cloud Computing. More important than the cost savings of 50% to 75% over in-house solutions, businesses and non-profits must trust the security, availability, and reliability of the solution.

Google has officially acknowledged and identified a cause for yesterday mornings “slow down” across all Google services.

Did you experience slow access??

Did you experience a full outage??

Twinstrata, the company that sells Clarity AP (assessment and planning) software, conducted a comprehensive study of the costs and risks of Google Apps versus Microsoft Exchange. In his Storage Bits blog, Robin Harris provides a good summary of the results.

Robin’s summary explains the stark cost difference — 20x on capital equipment and 5x to 6x on a 3 year total cost of ownership (TCO). Some of the details warrant clarification.

First, the study narrowed the gap based on the risk of unplanned downtime. MS Exchange, however, requires downtime on a monthly basis (or expensive redundancy configurations), for system and operating system patches and updates. Planned downtime adds to the cost and should be counted when comparing availability given that Google is engineered for zero-downtime.

Second, Google is developing a robust and diverse channel to provide the implementation, migration, integration, and support services identified is lacking in the study. While purchasing through a reseller increases the cost over the direct Google pricing, the value of the services improves the quality, and therefore lowers the cost, of using Google.

While these considerations may change the equation slightly, the business case for Google Apps is valid for many small and mid-size businesses.